Perhaps the best ever batsman to emerge from the Kiwi soil, Martin Crowe broke several batting records despite fighting a spate of injuries. An innovative thinker, Martin Crowe came up with pearls such as opening the bowling with Dipak Patel in the opening match of the 1992 WC against Australia, the promotion of Mark Greatbatch to rattle the opposition as the Kiwis made the semi-finals of the home WC, before another untimely injury in the semi-finals saw the hopes of Crowe evaporating right before him.

An excellent batsman, Crowe reveled in the company of Hadlee as New Zealand enjoyed a period of renaissance in the late 80s. In a 77 match Test career, Crowe scored 5444 runs at a fine average of 45.36. His best innings was a superb 299 against Sri Lanka, which was the record for the highest Test score by a New Zealand batsman before Brendon McCullum went past it and scored 302 against India in the second Test at Wellington.

With 456 runs at an average of 114, Martin Crowe was the best batsman of the 1992 WC as he led New Zealand to the semi-finals. Being an innovator to the core during his playing days, Crowe continued in that fashion behind the scenes as well. He served as a commentator with Sky in New Zealand and also managed their management activities.

Crowe developed a new version of the game, which he named as Cricket Max in 1996. It was deemed as a success in New Zealand but failed to catch up anywhere else. Crowe was named as the CEO of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008, but a poor performance by the Bangalore outfit saw his exit.

In May, 2011, Crowe surprised even his most ardent critics by tweeting that he aimed at getting fitter and was considering making a return to club cricket with the ultimate goal of playing for Auckland, in New Zealand's domestic first-class competition - at the age of 48. His return was delayed by a groin injury, but he did make a triumphant return, captaining Cornwell reserve grade team in a second division club game against Papatoetoe, also batting at number three in the process.

Crowe was diagnosed with Lymphoma in October 2012. According to him the main cause for this was that his immune system was weakened by the various illness he picked on tours in the 80's and 90's. However, as he did with his batting, Crowe battled hard and became cancer free in June 2013. Since then he has become a pundit and gives his opinion on cricket for a popular cricket website.

Crowe's successful battle against lymphona didn't last long though. In 2014, he announced that the cancer had returned and his chances of survival beyond a year was less than 5 percent. In an emotional speech, Crowe mentioned about his desire to watch the 2015 Cricket World Cup, to be jointly co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

On 28th February, 2015, Crowe was inducted into the International Council of Cricket (ICC) Hall of fame, in front of an adoring, jam-packed Eden Park crowd during the World Cup match between Australia and New Zealand. Crowe had lived for the moment and it was fitting that the honour came in front of a gushing crowd.

Cancer was the eventual cause of his passing on March 3, 2016, surrounded by his family members. Crowe was just 53 and left behind his family including his second wife, Lorraine Dawnes, daughter Emma and step children, Hilton and Jasmine.





By Pradeep Krishnamurthy